Legitimacy in Environmental and Natural Resource Policy: Habermasian Perspectives on Policy Analysis
Panel Chairs:
Daniela Kleinschmitt, Cardiff University, daniela.kleinschmit@sprod.slu.se
Peter H. Feindt, Cardiff University
Environmental policy and planning has often been hailed as a policy area where innovative and participatory institutional arrangements and deliberative democracy flourish. Curiously, there is little critical reflection whether these arrangements match the notion of deliberative democracy as put forward by one of the leading political theorists, Juergen Habermas. Correspondingly, his concept of political legitimacy had relatively little impact on environmental policy analysis.
Given the implicit legitimacy claims embodied in recent shifts 'from government to governance' in environmental policy arrangements, any meaningful analysis requires clarification of its normative assumptions and concepts. This panel wants to discus how Habermas' concept of political legitimacy can enrich environmental policy analysis. The panel will focus on Habermas' notion of deliberative democracy and his concept of critical political theory.
Translating grand theory onto the level of policy analysis is always a challenge. Habermas' concept of deliberative democracy, however, contains some quite operational ideas about procedural democratic legitimacy. His concept, being rooted in critical theory, based on the notion of communicative action and validity claims, provides quite practical guidance to interpretive policy analysis. These perspectives, however, have been rarely applied to environmental policy analysis.
Therefore, we invite both theoretical-reflective and conceptual-empirical papers that address the following topics:
1. The development of Habermas' concept in environmental and natural resource policy analysis & its implication on legitimacy.
2. The scope, identity and variability of "Habermasian policy analysis" in the environmental policy domains.
3. The qualification of a 'Habermasian policy analysis' on environmental policy to contribute to theory and methodology building.
